HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 10.11.2011 CC-WThe City Council of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met in Regular Session on the above date with Mayor
George Garver presiding.
Council Present: Council Absent:
Patty Eason, Danny Meigs, Bill Sattler, Pat All Council Present.
Berryman, Tommy Gonzalez, Troy Hellmann,
Rachael Jonrowe
Staff Present:
Paul E Brandenburg, City Manager; Bridget Chapman, City Attorney; Jessica Brettle, City Secretary;
Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer; Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager; Elizabeth Cook, Community
Development Director;
A Discussion and possible direction to staff on a proposed land management system -- Elizabeth A. Cook,
Community Development Director
Berryman absent.
With a Powerpoint Presentation, Cook described a possible development land management tracking system for
the Council. She said the planning department has been working for some time to get an automated system.
She said they are proposing to do a software land tracking system that is similar to Louisiana's South Central
planning system. She spoke of the history of this type of system.
She said this system will track all planning and permitting applications, it is a digital plan review, it creates
permits, tracks all phases of projects, it will generate comments, inspection reports and letters to applicants and
it allows for complete internal tracking of reports. She said they hope to go live in the first quarter of 2012. She
described the modules and support software of the program including mypermitnow.org, the code enforcement
piece, the grant management program and myaddressnow.org. She spoke about the advantages of the system
and said it is a flexible customizable system tailored to our business model. She said they will work with us to
flow with our processes. She said it is a completely digital plan review process, which reduces bulky plans and
the need for storage. She said this will help them work toward a paperless application process. She said this
new program will provide fast, efficient field inspections. She said there are phone and email notifications that
will go to customer and there is an online application piece as well coming soon. She said the applicants will be
able to make an application online without having to come in to the office. She said there is 24/7 customer
access to their application statues, there is customized reports at no additional cost, there is ease of use,
unlimited support for customers and the City and it will streamline our processes and enhance accountability.
She spoke about how Lago Vista and San Marcos are about to go live with their systems. She said the staff
went on site visits to look at this program in person. She said they went to South Centra Planning and
Development Commission, St. Tammany Parish and the City of Alexandria. She described what they
discovered at their site visits. She said one of the things the system does for us is South Central hosts the
information, the phone system and the email notifications system, which means the City's resources are not
used for this. She said the fee structure is based on the permit volume. She said they are anticipating an
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annual cost for the My Permit piece of the program of $22,000. She said the flat monthly fee includes multi -site
real-time backup, automatic phone and email notifications, experienced software developers available to
address system software problems, development and release of new features as well as other useful features.
She said it stores photos, building/permitting documents, reports and plan review files within the system. She
said custom reports are also available by request. She spoke about cost and the pricing for each piece of the
system. She said the fees charges are based on project volume. She said there will be fees for additional
modules as well. She said their is also a cost for hardware and staff. She said the South Central will come and
do on site training if we pay for their expenses. She said there is no up -front costs or set-up fees. She noted
savings will be recognized from taking permitting and inspections off of Incode and putting them on this new
system. She said there will be software savings. She said they anticipate the cost for all of the components for
the tracking system would be about $25,800. She said they have not received a cost estimate for the
community service piece yet. She said the code enforcement cost is on a per case basis. She said the
hardware component would be about $30,000 and she described what that cost would get for the City.
Berryman arrived at the dais.
She said they have a plan to recoup the cost for this. She said the City would charge users a technology fee
based on application type and complexity. She noted there is an immediate paper savings for the applicants.
She said they use fees to pay for software contracts and hardware needed to maximize software's effectiveness
and paperless review. She said once fees accumulate, they will become self supporting. She said, based on
the 2010-2011 application volume, they estimate to have $29,000 in annual revenue. She said this went to
GGAF and received positive feedback. She said there are two companion items on the regular agenda and she
described those for the City Council.
Mayor asked and Cook said, to the extent we can, staff would like to put older records on the system. She said,
however, staff will start by moving forward and then try working back as much as possible. She said the ideal
way would be to go back and have the old information, but it is not a requirement. Mayor asked and Cook said it
is not a requirement to purchase large scanners to do this. She noted the City would no longer keep some of the
paper copies if the information is available on the digital system. Gonzalez said and Cook said the outlay to start
the program is for the hardware. She said the City does not have to pay for the tracking system up front. She
clarified the costs and when they will be incurred. Jonrowe said she ran this by her husband and said he is very
excited. She said he also said being able to get notification by phone will be very beneficial. She asked about
the My Code Enforcement portion and how it changes from what we do now. Jonrowe asked and Baird spoke
about how the current code enforcement process works. Baird said the existing software we have does not allow
for the ease of use that the new system would provide. She said this would make the process automatic
because the existing software requires the users to manually input the next step in the process. She said this
new software would guide the users through all of the necessary steps of code enforcement. She said the user
will be able to look at code enforcement issues by type, location and district, among other things. Jonrowe
asked and Baird confirmed they anticipate this will make the process much more efficient. Baird said this will
store photos with each individual address within the system. She said staffanticipates that all of the Council
members could have access to that as well. Jonrowe noted this is great and said one of the most common
issues she hears is code enforcement issues. Berryman asked if there is a cost to CAPCOG to manage this.
Cook said she is not sure and added they do not know of the financial relationship between CAPCOG and South
Central. Baird said there is not any financial gain for CAPCOG. She said this just makes it easier to their
members. Berryman said logic tells her it is strange that we spend money for the hardware but no one pays the
company for the service. Cook clarified and said the City will be paying the company for the use of their system
through CAPCOG. She said the City is paying them but we are paying them through CAPCOG because the
company is in a different state. Berryman asked and Cook said the hardware will not allow the City to have its
own system. Sattler asked and Cook said she does not anticipate that there will be fewer employees with the
addition of this system. Cook said the employees will just work differently and will be more effective and
efficient. Cook said the city also have several frozen positions in planning and permitting departments. Meigs
said this is a great idea and a good example of how technology can save us money and increase our efficiency.
Hellmann said he hopes this is something that will allow the City to do more development and process more
applications and permits and make better use of our time. He said he is very happy about the cost savings this
will bring to the developer. He said he thinks this is indicative of the initiatives we are trying to do. He said this is
a step in the right direction and he likes the way the city is going. Eason said she thinks this is a win win
situation. She noted it is a fantastic process and added it will allow the City to be more effective in following up
with the City Codes. Gonzalez spoke about cost and said the first year would be $55,000 with half of that being
recovered. He said, as we consider this option, we have to remember it will take us two years to break even on
the deal. He said the money has to come from somewhere to pay the difference. Rundell said Cook is
requesting a separate special revenue fund, which will include all of the revenues coming from this system. She
said the fund will be overdrawn at the end of the first year and recovered through the next year. Brandenburg
spoke about the program and how this would make the City more customer friendly.
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Meeting recessed to Executive Session under Section 551.071-- 5:34 PM
Meeting returned to Open Session and adjourned -- 6:09 PM
The meeting was adjourned at 06:09 PM.
WE
Mayor Gecpfge Garver gitJ Secretary Jessica Brettle
City Council Meeting Minutes/
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